Sayeeda Warsi, Baroness Warsi

Infobox Politician
honorific-prefix = The Right Honourable
name = Sayeeda Warsi
honorific-suffix =
Baroness Warsi of Dewsbury, QC, PC

---

birth_date = birth date and age|1971|03|28
birth_place = flagicon|UK Dewsbury, UK
office = Shadow Minister for Community Cohesion
term_start = 2 July 2007
term_end = present
predecessor =
successor =
religion = Sunni Islam
party= Conservative Party

Sayeeda Hussain Warsi, Baroness Warsi (born 28 March 1971) is a British politician for the Conservative Party and a lawyer. Baroness Warsi is currently a member of the Shadow Cabinet.

Early life

Warsi was born in Dewsbury in 1971 to Pakistani parents. She was educated at Birkdale High School, Dewsbury College, and the University of Leeds where she read Law (LLB). She attended the York College of Law to complete her Legal Practice Course and trained both with the Crown Prosecution Service and the Home Office Immigration Department.

After qualifying as a Solicitor, she worked for John Whitfield, the last Conservative Member of Parliament for Dewsbury at Whitfield Hallam Goodall Solicitors and then went on to set up her own specialist practice George Warsi Solicitors in Dewsbury. She has also worked overseas for the Ministry of Law in Pakistan and in Kashmir as Chairman of the Savayra Foundation, a women's empowerment charity.

Life Peer

Warsi was the Conservative Parliamentary Candidate for Dewsbury at the 2005 General Election, becoming the first Muslim woman to be selected by the Conservatives. She lost that election by nearly 5000 votes. She has served as a special adviser to Michael Howard on Community Relations and was appointed by David Cameron as Vice Chairman of the Conservative Party with specific responsibility for Cities.

In its December edition, the "New Statesman" 'revealed' that Warsi received support for her general election campaign from Lord Ahmed, a Labour peer. [ [http://www.newstatesman.com/200611300000 Labour peer urged support for Tories in 2005 election] - "New Statesman" - 30 November, 2006] According to the New Statesman's report, Warsi "welcomed Lord Ahmed's support".

On 2 July 2007 it was announced that, despite her failure to be elected to the House of Commons, Warsi would become Shadow Minister for Community Cohesion and a working peer. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6262664.stm Profile: Sayeeda Warsi] - BBC News - Monday, July 02 2007] Her peerage was conferred as Baroness Warsi, of Dewsbury in the County of West Yorkshire on 11 October 2007 and gazetted on 26 October 2007. [ [http://www.parliament.uk/directories/house_of_lords_information_office/new_members.cfm UK Parliament - New Members ] ] [LondonGazette
issue=58495
linkeddate=2007-10-26
startpage= 15513
notarchive=yes
accessdate=2007-12-08 ] She is, by October 2007, the youngest member of the House of Lords. [ [http://www.parliament.uk/faq/lords_members.cfm#mem3 UK Parliament - Members and principal office holders of the Lords ] ]

The Gay rights organisation Stonewall, as well as several Labour politicians, have questioned her suitability for her current job due to leaflets for her election campaign which contained allegedly homophobic views. Some of her 2005 campaign leaflets claimed that Labour's lowering of the homosexual age of consent from 18 to 16 was "allowing schoolchildren to be propositioned for homosexual relationships", [http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-4917.html 'Homophobic' leaflet used again by Tory candidate] - "Pink News" - 11 July 2007] and that homosexuality was being peddled to children as young as seven in schools. [ [http://politics.guardian.co.uk/election/story/0,15803,1471081,00.html Adviser to Tory leader attacks gay sex laws] - "The Guardian", Wednesday 27 April 2005] On the subject, Warsi said that "I look back at lots of my election leaflets and think, 'God - why did I phrase it like that? What was I on?" adding "There was a whole team that was involved in my election leaflets. Looking back on it, maybe I could have used much better language than that", while adding her belief that sex education should be "out of the school system, initially" [http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-4917.html 'Homophobic' leaflet used again by Tory candidate] - "Pink News" - 11 July 2007] . Warsi also said that the removal of Section 28 from the Local Government Act 1986 was 'the promotion of homosexuality'.

On 1 December 2007, Baroness Warsi travelled with Lord Ahmed to meet for talks with Sudanese officials and Ministers, in response to the jailing of an English teacher, Gillian Gibbons. Gibbons had been found guilty of insulting Islam, after allowing her class to name a teddy bear Mohammed. This had resulted in her prosecution and a 15 day jail sentence. Baroness Warsi's and Lord Ahmed's meeting with the Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir led to Mrs Gibbons being pardoned" [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7126162.stm Teacher speaks of Sudan 'ordeal'] - BBC News - 4 December 2007] [http://politics.guardian.co.uk/conservatives/story/0,,2221450,00.html Tory peer's triumph delights Cameron] - The Guardian - 4 December 2007] .

tyles

* Miss Sayeeda Warsi (1971–2007)
* The Rt. Hon. The Baroness Warsi (2007–)

References

External links

* [http://www.sayeedawarsi.com/ Official Website]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6262664.stm Baroness Warsi] at bbc.co.uk
* [http://www.conservatives.com/tile.do?def=people.person.page&personID=123492 Baroness Warsi] at conservatives.com